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Portland boil water alert: City officials were prepared days ahead of public notice

Portland Water Bureau issues boil water alert

David Shaff, Portland Water Bureau Administrator, speaks at the Portland Water Bureau's press conference May 23. The Portland Water Bureau issued a city-wide boil notice after water staffers detected E. coli in three separate tests during the past three days.
(Stuart Tomlinson/The Oregonian)

Public records released by the city on Friday show that officials came up with a dizzying array of strategies last week to notify the public about the first citywide boil-water notice in Portland's history.

As early as May 21, when the first positive results came in detecting E. coli and total coliform at a Mt. Tabor reservoir, city staff began preparing thorough response plans.

Dozens of emails among the bureau's staff detailed their strategy in the event that they needed to issue a boil water notice.

Staff created talking points for elected officials, drafted tweets that would go out if a boil water notice took effect, and even planned what to do if the news media caught wind of the dirty samples before the bureau's public announcement.

A second test came back positive May 22 for E. coli from a second location, at Southeast 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street.

Later that day, city officials realized that a third positive reading on May 23 would require an unprecedented citywide boil water notice, according to emails.

Those dreaded results came in at 8:15 a.m. May 23, from a second Mt. Tabor reservoir. City officials called the Oregon Health Authority at 9:18 a.m. and the state directed Portland to issue the notice.

The city submitted its formal plan via email at 9:47 a.m. The state approved it four minutes later.

The boil-water alert impacted more than 900,000 Portland-area residents. Officials lifted the notice May 24, about 24 hours after it went into effect.

City officials tracked social-media response, in a big way.

The Water Bureau gained more than 1,200 followers on Twitter, and the agency's 38 tweets were retweeted more than 1,250 times.

The Water Bureau's webpage with information about the notice – which crashed because of heavy traffic May 23 – received 343,000 unique visits. The city's map showing impacted areas drew nearly 125,000 clicks.

Here's a look at a timeline of events, based on city documents:

Wednesday, May 21:

4:33 p.m. Melissa Howlett, of the Planning staff, notes a media release would need to go out no later than 9:30 a.m. on Thursday if necessary. A hidden boil water notice website is ready to go. Staff plan for possible news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Thursday, May 22:

7:58 a.m. Three scenarios are loaded into the community emergency notification system, just in case.

8:10 a.m. Samples come back clean.

8:13 a.m. State confirms city is in the clear.

8:29 a.m. Reservoir 1, which would later be isolated, is put back into service.

8:33 a.m. Officials notify wholesalers that everything is clear.

8:35 a.m. All potentially affected wholesale customers notified by email and phone that samples are clean and no boil water notice will be issued.

10:28 a.m. A positive coliform test is found.

Friday, May 23

7:45 a.m. Two repeat samples are found to be clean.

8:12 a.m. Reservoir 5 comes up positive in test results.

9:21 a.m. State requires boil water notice. Chris Wanner, director of operations for Water Bureau, directs staff to be prepared to take open reservoir off line.